Bullied
by flora1309
Summary: Just a one-shot I wrote a long time ago. John finds love during a shooting at Alan s school. Sometimes all you can do is, not letting them win.


**DISCLAIMER: I DON`T OWN THE BOY`S :(**

Do you have any idea how it feels? Being called ugly, sometimes even disgusting, day in, day out. To be called names, to be pushed around, to be hit, to be kicked. To be pushed down so many times you stopped counting. Every single day.

Well I do. Every time I go to school they call me these things, the steal my lunch, push me on the ground. Kick me when I´m down.

I have been bullied in so many ways for as long as I can remember.

A friend of mine told me to suck it up. To ignore them. At the end of the day I could go home and I was freed from the bullies for a few hours. I wished that was the case.

Because when I come home. The house is empty. My brothers left this place the moment they could. They told me they hated this place,so they left and never came back. But they forgot that they left someone behind.

My mom is drunk most of the time. She´s home, but in some way still isn´t. She never talks to me, only yells and order me around. Since my brothers left, it´s up to me to make sure the house is clean, that there is enough booze and dinner on the table.

My dad comes home and one thing is out-of-place, I´m not getting any dinner. That´s most of the time because my mom likes to see me punished for something I didn´t do. She complains about me to my dad and tells me he needs to teach me a lesson.

It´s more painful when your mother say´s your worthless then when some girls at school yell it at you. But I learned to ´ignore´ it a long time ago.

But it still hurt every time. overtime they tell me that they wish I was never born. That I should do human kind a favor and just kill myself.

And still it wasn´t me, who walked into the school with a gun. It wasn´t me who emptied rounds in the cafeteria. It wasn´t me who walked into the teachers launch and shoot them all. Because even when I sometimes wanted to do it, to hurt everyone who hurt me before ending this torture called life, I didn´t want to turn into someone I wasn´t. I didn´t want to turn into them. I wasn´t let them change me.

But Rick let them change him. He was standing there with his gun after shooting the bullies who made his and mine life a living hell.

I raised my hand and walked to him. I ignored the voice from a blonde boy with blue eyes telling me to get down. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it had to be Alan Tracy´s older brother. Alan was a freshman, four years younger than me and one off the cool kids who didn´t bully, and on rare day´s told his friends to "cut it out and leave them alone." On rare occasions he even talked to me.

When I looked up, I met Rick´s eyes. Red from crying, tired from all the hurt he had in him. Anger at the people who hurt him.

Behind me, I heard Tracy´s brother whisper to me that I had to get down before I got killed. But I wasn´t afraid to be killed. I stopped being afraid to die a long time ago. I´ve thought about killing myself a many times but I didn´t want to give ´them´ that favor. I didn´t want ´them´ to get in my head and win.

The shooter looked at me with pleading eyes, he wanted to be saved but didn´t know how. He needed a way out and I was the only one who reached at him, offering him a hand. "Rick. I know that you feel that this is the only way. But it isn´t. Please let me help you. Please put the gun down."

"How do you know how I feel?" Rick shouted. "I hate this place, I hate them, I just want it to be over." He raised the gun.

"You can´t let them win." I said fast. Rick looked at me with the question in his eyes. "If you do this now, they win. The bullies win. Because you´ll be the bully. They got into your head and turned you into something you´re not. You can´t let them win."

"You´re Daisy," he said slowly. "I know you." He stayed silent for a few seconds before looking me in the eyes. "You´re just like me. They are hurting you to. Why don´t you see why I need to do this?"

"Because I can´t let them change me." I said. "I´ve been bullied my whole life. My dad hits me when he can, my mom is drunk and enjoys watching, at school they push me down, they tell me I´m disgusting and I should kill myself. And I can´t give them the satisfaction that I do what they want. So please Rick put the gun down."

"Prove it!" he yells. For a moment I´m confused what he means. "Prove me that you fought them off."

I turned my back to him and lifted my shirt a little. "Last night I was home an hour late because Patrizia locked me up in the locker. When I got home my dad was already there. He took of his belt and I think you can guess the rest." I turned back to Rick. "My brothers left me behind when they escaped that place. I haven´t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday because I wasn´t allowed to eat. I´m hurt, I´m tired, I´m hungry, but I still won´t let them win. Put the gun down Rick. Everything will be okay. We´ll find a way out together." For the first time I saw something else in Rick´s brown eyes. Hope. He sat down and laid the gun next to him. He buried his face in his hands and started to cry softly.

And at that moment Patrizia spoke up. Whispering but still loud enough for me to hear. "I can´t believe that Bitch! She is playing this and probably is cutting herself for attention. I hope she won´t think she´s a hero because she convinced the low life to put down the gun. She should have let him kill himself, the World would be a better place without that monster. And if he could do us a favor and kill the slut to I would be grateful. He would have done something for the World. I´m just saying."

The anger in Rick´s eyes was back and even worse than before. In a split second he had the gun in his hand.

"RICK NO!" I yelled and jumped between him and the biggest bully from the school who was currently pulling Alan in front of her to use the young innocent boy as shield. I didn´t know if Rick saw me or Alan when he pulled the trigger.

A Sharp pain shot through me. For a moment I asked myself why the red liquid was flowing from my chest and I felt myself fall over on my knees. People started screaming, trying to get away. "Daisy!" I heard Rick. "O no! I´m sorry. I didn´t mean to! I was just angry! I can´t…"

I lost focus for a moment until I heard a second gunshot. I stayed down, eyes closed, lying on my stomach. Around my left hand I felt the warm blood from my body.

I didn´t let the bullies win, but I was still dying.

Two fingers pressed my neck and someone shouted. "She´s alive! Get a medic!" He turned me on my back and put pressure on the wound, making the pain even worse than before. "Daisy! Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

I did what the stranger asked and looked into the most beautiful blue eyes I´ve ever seen. He smiled down at me and put more pressure. I groaned from the pain. Why couldn´t he just let me die?

"Hey Daisy. I´m John. I need you to stay awake for a moment. Can you do that for me?" he asked worried.

"Hurts." I started coughing and tasted the copper taste of blood in my mouth.

"I know. Help is on the way. You´re going to be fine okay? Just hold on. I need you to stay awake and listen to me okay?"

"Tired." My eyes closed.

"Hey! Open those eyes for me. Come on beautiful."

surprised I opened my eyes again. "beautiful?" no one called me that before.

A medic arrived at the scene. John started to tell them what happened. "We got a GSW to the chest. rapid pulse, labored breathing. She´s coughing up blood but is still lucid. She is probably an abuse victim and has recently been beaten with a belt on her back. I don´t know if she has further injuries."

Within seconds I was hooked on an IV and monitors.

"Daisy, are you still with me?" John asked and as answer I looked in his eyes. "We´re going to move you to the gurney. I won´t lie, it´s going to hurt. But I need you to stay awake for me okay? Can you do that?"

I nodded tired. The darkness tried to pull me under but I fought and won. "John?" I called out. But it wasn´t louder than a whimper.

"I´m here." He said. "I´m not going anywhere."

"Are you coming with us?" the Medic asked.

"Yes. Come Alan. Lets go."

I vaguely remember getting in the ambulance. John not letting go off my hand. Alan still in shock next to him. My chest tightened and darkness, I tried to fight off, won and took me away.

* * *

When I opened my eyes for the first time I wondered where I was. Did my dad took it to far? Then everything came back at once and I couldn´t fight of the tears. Rick didn´t desirve this.

After five minutes the door opened and John came walking in carrying a cup of coffee. When he saw me open eyes he smiled. "Hey look who´s back." He said down in the chair next to me and took my left hand in his right. "You´ve scared me when you coded in the ambulance but the doctors telling me you´ll be fine."

"What are you doing here?" I asked softly.

John looked taken back by that question. "I´m here for you off course."

"But why?" I pressed further. "Why didn´t you let me die? Why are you here?"

With his left hands brushed John a few strays of hair out of my face. "Because I like you. You were so brave, you´re beautiful, you´re a fighter. You saved my baby brother´s life without thinking about it."

"No one likes me." I said softly.

"I like you. And I´ll prove it." John bent forward and pressed his lips on mine. "I´ll prove you everyday for the rest of my life that you´re worth it. That you´re beautiful. If you´ll have me off course."

"You only think that you like me because I saved Alan."

"No. I love you for you. And I´m going to prove it. I´m not leaving you." I saw the truth in John´s eyes.

"Promise?" I asked and he kissed me again.

"Promise." He whispered against my lips. His breath tickling my cheek. And I felt safe for the first time in my life.

The next time I opened my eyes, the police was there to ask me a few questions. John never left my side. apparently my dad tried to kill me while I was unconscious and John saved me. My father and my mother were arrested and in prison waiting for a trail.

"Do I need to call someone for you. Somewhere you can stay?" the policeman asked.

I shook my head. "I have no one." I said. John´s head rested on mine and he squeezed my hand.

"She´ll stay with me." He said and the police nodded before leaving.

"Really?" I asked. "We don´t know each other longer than a day and your willing to take me in?"

"When I visited Alan a few months back. I noticed you. You were sitting on the grass just outside the library, reading. I think I´ve watched you a million times but never had the courage to speak to you. I think your favorite book is the Davinci Code. That´s the book your reading the most. And when you eat a burger, you take tiny bites around the burger, you like to listen loud Music like Linkin Park. When I walk past you I can hear it."

"Stalker much?" I asked with a smile.

John kissed me again, I´ll never get used to that. "yeah, and your stalker was scared when you walked to the gun. Don´t ever do that to me again. Ever."

"I truly wish I never find myself in a situation like that."

"You better or I´ll lock you up somewhere safe." He said kissing my lips once more.

"Tell me about you now. Because I´m not really the stalker type. Never read people´s magazine either."

"Ouch." John laughed. "Well I work for my father. Got four brothers, one older, three younger."

"Wait Alan! He´s okay right? The bullet didn´t hit him right. I was on time?" I started to panic, my breathing went up and the heart monitor started to make noises.

"Easy Daisy. Take deep calm breaths, the nurse will kick me out if you don´t calm down. Alan is fine, not even a scratch. My dad and Scott are mother henning him as we speak."

"O." I started to get myself under control, John sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me against his chest. We sat there for a few minutes. "It´s just. Alan is one of the few kids who were nice to me. He´s a great kid."

"He is." leaning against the door post was a man. When he saw the question in my eyes he walked over to introduce himself. "Scott Tracy."

"The mother hen." I said with a smile. "I´m…"

"I know who you are. I think everyone knows." Scott cut in. "I came down here to ask if I could speak to you alone."

"Scott…" John´s arms tightened around me.

"It´s fine John." I said with a reassuring voice. "Can you check if I´m allowed to eat something? I´m starving."

"I´ll be right back." Said John sending a warning glare to Scott before whispering to his brother. "Hurt her or make her cry and I will end your bird." John wouldn´t really kill an animal because Scott hurt me. Would he?

Scott made his way to the chair next to me and sat down. "First, I want to thank you for saving my baby brother." He looked at me intensely. "Not many people would have the courage to do what you did first. But taking a bullet for someone you don´t really know, thank you."

"Alan was kind to me when no one was. He´s loved, he didn´t deserve to die."

"And you did?" The older Tracy asked. "I saw the security tapes. I heard what you said to that boy. And when I came looking for John I saw him keeping a man with a knife away from you, your dad. That´s the reason why I´m here."

I looked at my hands. "You don´t need to say it. I get it. I´m not good for John. I know." Tears started burning in my eyes and I laid back down. "It would have been better if I just died."

"No. That´s not what I meant." Scott stumbled over his words. "I wanted to tell you what ever happens from now on. You´ll never have to face it alone again. John loves you, that´s why Alan stood up for you. He´s a great kid but sometimes blind to the World. He didn´t even realised you were bullied until the shooting. He thought it was just teasing. He´s pretty shaken up right now, thinking he should have done something to help you when no one did."

"He did enough. Tell him that. He did more than any one else. Wait did you say John loves me?" I asked confused.

"More than chocolate." Scott said as a matter of fact. "He was a wreck when we arrived here. Scared for you. When he told us your heart had stopped in the ambulance he broke down. I never saw him like this and it scared the crap out of me. So I wanted to ask if you could try to stay safe or something before John´s hairs are gray."

"But I´m a nobody."

"You´re everything to him. John is just too shy to talk to you. But he talked about you all the time. He asked Alan questions, he visited Alan more than the rest of us. So… ready to get four brothers and a new dad?"

"I don´t understand."

"John isn´t planning on leaving your side for a very long time. Not unless you want him to leave. And I never had a sister. I think we´re going to be great friends. Unless you don´t want to?"

"I want to." I said quickly. John walked in with a tray of food and I smiled to him. "I´ve found myself a brother." I said proud. "And Scott told me you´re my boyfriend now."

The smile lit up John´s tired face and he made his way over to kiss me. "I love you Daisy."

"I love you to." I whispered leaning in to deepening the kiss. Scott left the room without making a sound. His work was done.

* * *

**Five years later.**

I sat on the edge of the pool. Gordon was pulling some laps, keeping a close eye on me. or better my belly. He was really Scott´s brother.

Speaking about Scott, he should be here in 3... 2... 1... "I´m fine Scott." I said without turning around. Gordon burst out laughing.

"You´re losing your touch Scooter." said Virgil to the oldest brother, who was pouting in the doorway. "Daisy can I get you anything to eat. Something to drink maybe?"

"Could you get me coffee?" I said with a hopeful smile.

"One tea without caffeine coming up." said the medic. Pulling Scott with him to the kitchen.

"How did she know?" did the last ask. "I didn´t even say anything. Besides, John asked me to take care of her. He´ll have my head if she even broke a nail."

"Over protective men." I sighed rubbing my hand over my belly. My baby bump was really standing out. John and I married a year after the shooting. A few weeks after my twenties birthday. I finished my degree online while recovering on Tracy island and was now an engineer. Just like Brains.

"Daisy. You shouldn´t be so close to the edge. What if you fall in." Said a worried voice.

I turned around. "Hi dad." I smiled. Jeff Tracy took care of me after the shooting, he took me in and was there. Like a real dad should. In many way´s he turned into a father for me. "I´m fine. I´m not due for another two weeks. Don´t worry."

"It´s my job to worry. And can you blame me. I´m going to be a granddad for the first time." He said kissing my forehead. "John is arriving in an hour. Brains told me to tell you to take your time. He got lots of work to do in five so no need to hurry."

"Sweet of him." I said with a smile.

"O and Tim called. He wanted to interview you for your new book but I told him you were busy making me old." I glared at him. "Hey if I´m grandpa I´m old alright. And I´m loving it."

"Love you to dad." With a grunt I tried to stand up. Dad and Alan immediately took an arm to help me. "Hey, little bro. When did you arrive?"

"Five minutes ago. I didn´t want to miss the birth of my little niece or nephew." Alan looked at my big belly. "shouldn´t you be resting?"

Laughing I shaking my head. "Dude, don´t worry. I´m fine." I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "Tell me how is school."

Alan shrugged his shoulders. "They are keeping a memorial for the victims and asked me to ask you to come to held a speech. You´re still the hero off the school. I told them you had more imported things to do that speak about that."

"It´s great that my family can read my mind." I said. "Patrizia still working as cleaner?"

"Yep."

"Your program?"

"Working great. Still growing." Alan made a program where bullied kids find each other. They could talk about bullying. It had grown and now there were groups where kids could talk about everything, from bullying till abuse, with people in the same situation. And there was the buddies project. Based on a test Alan found kindred spirits and kids who were alone got paired up with people like them.

Schools copied Alan´s idea in their own version and while bullying was still a great issue on school, it had reduced.

"I´m so proud of you. Grades?"

"Uhm. I passed every class."

"That´s what matters." I looked with a smile at my baby brother. Dad frowned at me. "What. High grades aren´t everything. I´m proud he passed every class."

"Yeah. And that´s why your my favourite sister." Alan beamed.

I ruffled the boy's hair. "Well I´m your only sister."

Life was great. I´m a Thunderbird, saving lives on daily basis. I had a loving family, a wonderful husband and a baby on the way.

Probably a lot of imported people were bullied. Those people look back at those people who bullied them and say look what I did with my life. Well this is what I did with my life. I didn´t let the bullies win. I walked away with my head held high knowing that one day, it will be better. It won´t stay this way for ever. I did what made me happy and found out that school is just a phase. Even when my past is full of hurt, I smile because it made me who I am today. And today I´m happy, I´m blessed.

Yep life is great.


End file.
